Trade Mission to Geonosis (ORC, attn: CIS, and also openish)

[Ugohr Poof]

"Wesa manufacture stink bombs, yes, and wesa use disen stink bombs for crowd control. As for da hydrostatic bubbles wesa use for oursa underwater cities, and to a lesser extent in oursa surface cities, theysa not let in contaminants from da water"

True, Gungans often conjured images of underwater bubble cities, such as Otoh Gunga, the Gungan capital, and [member="Scherezade deWinter"] was asking questions about Gungans that seemed increasingly disturbing. Especially the last question, which, in his mind, implied the human girl wanted to boil Gungan tadpoles. Even then, he seldom met non-Gungans that actually wanted to learn more about Gungans beyond realty or diet. While, of course, Ugohr could give her a few fish and seafood recipes, or a few tips for navigating Gungan municipal ordinances, clearly she was motivated to go after some other bit of knowledge. True, Gungans, as with any aquatic species, seemed to like baths; bathtubs were some of the main Gungan exports, as were hydrostatic field generators. Just that, rather than to talk about boiling Gungans, he'd instead frame the answer in terms of what precautions Gungans took for taking hot baths, because he himself took those hot baths in question. But he did not sell hot tubs, so he wouldn't try to sell her any of those implements.

"If yousa go to a Gungan hotel, yousa would realize dat wesa usually set limits on hot water up to about 75-80 degrees Celsius; itsa because hotter water issa dangerous for usen, and even den itsa not recommended for Gungans to take more dan tenksa minutes in a bath at disen temperature. Hydrostatic fields can withstand higher temperatures dan usen Gungans"

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Scherezade nodded enthusiastically as the Gungan gave her all the answers she needed. She opened her mouth to ask a few more of her increasingly disturbing questions, when her comlink went off.

With a sigh, she gave it a glance, rolled her eyes, and placed it back in her pocket. It was time to go on another stupid mission.

"Thanks a bunch!" she said with a genuine smile, "if we ever meet on Naboo, I'll make sure you don't turn into fish soup."

And without waiting for a reply, the young girl turned around and walked away, making her way back to the docks.


(Scherezade out of thread)



[member="Ugohr Poof"]

 

[Alessandra Creed]

​

Location: The Hub
Add'l Tags: [member="Hylocereus"] | [member="Ugohr Poof"] | [member="Mara Merrill-Valkner"] | [member="Gib"] [member="Mishel Noren"]


Chocolate eyes, spiced with flecks of cinnamon, flickered keenly over the crowd. Some faces were more notable than others, in the way that [member="Scherezade deWinter"] seemed to cost them an awful lot in anti-diarrheal medication when someone got on her bad side, but others she barely knew. Alessandra remained near to [member="Rylan Kordel"], easily within reach, but not so close that she would bump into him. It would ruin his ability to keep her safe if she hampered his movement and it was simply too hot of a day to walk right on top of each other. For once, there was a perfect breeze, but all of the bodies milling about seemed to make better doors than windows.

Her friend for the day seemed to snap back to attention when she spoke, returning from his mental duties, in order to answer her question. Interesting. His smile was small but genuine. “Call me Alessandra. We’re going to be with each other all day so there’s no need for such formality.”

The lovely woman seemed to be nearly glowing with confidence and self-assured composure. This may have not been her domain, certainly, it belonged to the Vicelord—but the Brentaal IV born Minister of Commerce treated it as if it were her castle. Curious, she tilted her head sweetly, and cast a sideways glance at the newly made Obsidian Knight that was made into something almost petulant when it became marred with the slightly downturned edges of rose red lips. “Why do you say it is the least you can do? Is spending the day out under the sky with a Minister so terrible?”

The well-armed man noted that the people in the bazaar seemed happy. Ah, shopping. The fair and worthwhile exchange of credits. “It is wonderful isn’t it? Every time I see a new vendor pop up it just makes me want to do the dance of capitalist superiority.”

The teasing smile that she cast over her shoulder should tell the soldier that she was speaking tongue-in-cheek. Mostly, anyway. If there was one thing Alessandra liked to do was balance budgets and keep tidy books. She enjoyed the finer things. Wine, rare paperback novels, and taxes. It truly was the holy trinity, the hallmark, of a blessed day. New credits, old credits—credits were credits. All were beautiful, especially, when spent on Geonosis.

Alessandra might have gone to order something from one of the various food trucks, out of sheer morbid curiosity, but something new crossed her senses. She paused in her leisurely walk and tried to find the feeling again as it started to slip away. It was odd. The sensation reminded her of when her brother was nearby. It was a brief tingle in the back of her mind warning her that the wet willie of a lifetime was on its way. It wasn’t a threat, not exactly, but it had overtime taught her the fine art of knowing when to duck.

If she were paying better attention she might have realized that the deWinter girl was pumping a poor unsuspecting Gungan for information. As it stood she remained distracted by the notion of one of her relatives being close by. Had her father come to visit unexpectedly? Had her mother? That didn’t seem right. Her brother was neck deep in the Sith Empire and her mother and father had a ridiculously accurate timetable.

“There’s something… Strange.”, she voiced suddenly to Rylan, realizing, she had been staring into space the whole time. The one day that she had chosen not to wear the trinket that concealed her aura had to be the day when it turned out that she needed it most. “I feel as if…”

She trailed off, haltingly, before she stopped speaking and placed a plastic-perfect smile on her features. There was a vendor selling purple puffs of cottony sugar glass across the way and she began to head toward it. “Nevermind. Let’s go find us something sweet to eat.”

Clearly, the heat was getting to her. Her family was far, far away.

 

[Zef Halo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9chF9gYZqI​

THE HUB, GOLBAH CITY
GEONOSIS

Kandra Tyth, also known as the baroness of Nowhere, was lately getting quite ambitious. Rumors were a large container of agrocite was being shipped to a wealthy Nimbanel trader by the name of Furch Dreiz operating in the heart of the Confederacy. An arms dealer who made wealth selling essential materials for warfare like agrocite. The hit was supposedly big, the cut sounded good 30% of the value split between Terrik, Tarsi and Kessler but the hit was risky - they'd be hitting in the heart of the confederacy a supplier of their war machine.

So why only the three of them?

You can't bring a bandit crew down here without raising too much alarms and they'd least expect someone being foolish enough to try robbing them here on their capital.

The three observed from one of the many roofs of the metropolis as a train on the lightrail system was approaching from the distance. They were situated somewhere not far from possibly what was central station - the station which was situated in the midst of the 'bazaar' where you could find anything. Tourists, merchants and everything else shuffled through the crowds of the bazaar. There even was a bunch of Outer Rim Coalition folks down there somewhere as far as Saul had heard.

Now, buckle up, and listen to this piece of recklessness.

"Alright, let's revisit the fethin' plan one last time." Saul dropped the macrobinoculars as he rubbed his hands impatiently. "I glide you two nice fellas down so you rope down on top of that container with this piece of useful junk." His hand gestured at the parked next to them 'tugboat'. An open roof airspeeder with two rather large tractor beams welded next to the engines. "I get back up higher so I don't trip no collision alarms. Tarsi, you get on working on making sure the damn train's alarms don't go ringing when Kessler disengages the wagon from the rest."

He paused to lit the cigarette he had been chewing on for a while now before adding:

"Time's short, we'll need to get this done before the train reaches central station or it might get messy." Saul puffed out a cloud of smoke before a satisfied smile hooked his lips. "Any karkin' questions?"

[member="Daro Tarsi"] | [member="Dash Kessler"]​

​

[member="Alessandra Creed"] | [member="Hylocereus"] | [member="Ugohr Poof"] | [member="Mara Merrill-Valkner"] | [member="Rylan Kordel"] | [member="Gib"] | [member="Mishel Noren"]​

 

[Dash Kessler]

LOCATION: The Hub, Gulbah City
ITINERARY: Sight see, enjoy the company of old friends, rob a train.

“That simple, huh?” There was an understandable note of doubt in the Corellian’s voice as he continued to survey the scene before them, a hand resting just above his brow to shield his eyes from the glare of the harsh Genosian sun. A mocking smirk playing out across those lips as he watched the first glimmer of their target sparkle on the horizon. Unless he missed his mark, it was still a good five minutes out, perhaps less if the driver was feeling anxious to make his timetable. Plenty of time to poke the flimsy proposal the Tetan was laying out.

That was the thing between the pair. Years of watching each other’s backs in the ranks of the Galactic Alliance’s finest military institution had afforded Dash the uncanny, nay preternatural ability to know when [member="Saul Terrik"] was laying on the bantha poodoo. As a rule of thumb, you just had to wait for his lips to start moving.

And true to form, there he was. Trying to smooth out the obvious the wrinkles in his plan, attempting to make it sound completely cut and dry, as if there was nothing more to this job than your standard blue milk run. In reality, however, you had to be a special kind of crazy to attempt a train job. More so when the fether was on the move. There were a lot of variables at play. A lot of ways it could go wrong.

“What’s our extraction plan looking like?” He dropped his hand, taking a step back from the edge of their vantage point. His gaze flickering to the oldest member of the quartet, [member="Daro Tarsi"], and then to the slicer-slash-muscle, [member="Sortz"]. It was all well and good that Saul was confident in his scheme, but it was ultimately the three of them, Dash included, that would shoulder the real risk should it turn sideways. “A job this with a profile this high, this close to the city, we ain’t gonna have a lot of time to mess around before the buggers descend on us.”

From what he’d heard, they didn’t sentence folks to prison on Genosis. They had an arena instead. One he didn't plan to attend as a spectator, let alone as an active participant if it was all the same.

"I dunno about any of you, but I don't think we need a repeat of what happened at Llanic, yeah?"

 

[Rylan Kordel]

Location: The Hub
Tags: [member='Alessandra Creed']

"Fair enough, I'll keep that in mind, Alessandra." the soldier in the man struggled slightly for a moment to call the woman by her given name, his dark eyes scanning the crowd again, seeing some faces that seemed familiar, and others that did not, the odd collection of species from across the confederacy, and other local systems amusing him slightly. Looking back to the beauty that was his ward for the day, Rylan couldn't help but catch the look on her face from his earlier comment, and he sighed a little locking eyes with her, where her's where a beautiful shade of chocolate brown, his own were nearly as black as fresh coffee and had a story of to tell of the things he'd seen, "I didn't mean it in a bad way, in the long list of what I could be doing, I'm glad to be here with you." he smiled as genuinely as he could, "Though I could question why you'd pick me over a droid or two." he flashed a subtle grin at Alessandra.

A small laugh and a shake of his head would give away that he caught her tongue-in-cheek comment about the vendors and their set ups. Her attitude and behavior let him relax a little, which was probably a good thing, it would make him sharper and quicker to react in case of any emergency, though he believed it was possible there wasn't going to be any serious issues, he was glad she had asked him to come with her.

Breathing in through his nose, Rylan closed his eyes for a moment taking in the scent of the different cuisines being cooked in the area, in particular the Gungan's food truck had caught his attention, he was debating nudging Alessandra in that direction when she paused, causing him to scan her features, looking for any hint of what could be wrong, even so much as to try and reach out through the force to see if he could sense something himself. If she looked back at him, she'd see the puzzled and concerned look upon his face, but he knew better than to question her, he believed she'd tell him if there was a true issue at hand.

When she mentioned the sweets, a smile crossed his features, and he nodded, allowing her to lead the way as he pulled a few loose credits from one of his many pockets to pay for said treat, "Sure, sounds good. Consider it my treat."

 

[Arage Bao]

Daro shrugged as he studied the outcrops of the city beneath them, the train approaching swiftly (if his cybernetic eye wasn't making a mistake... and it never was, it would hit the optimal trajectory in about three minutes. Not a ton of time to discuss things), but that was fine by Tarsi. He took a swig from his flask and burped, barely making an effort to suppress it from his comrades.

They'd deal.

"Ya know there are other adjectives than 'fething', 'damn', 'karking', lad." Another tug from the flask before letting it disappear into one of his pockets. "Makes ya look anxious and twitchy."

Like Tarsi had any claims to looking professional.

Truth be told Daro looked like he hadn't seen the inside of a shower in about a week, the way his nails scratched at the collar of his neck only accented that. Same for the deep scent of alcohol moving around him. "Llannic was fine.... we got out, got the goods and only had to spend three days in the sewers." He squinted, zooming into the front of the train with his cybernetic eye.

"The Hope's hanging in the sky, we get what we need and drop straight into it. Sortz an' me slaved it to my comm-wrist a few weeks back." It would be risky, but they could probably pull it off with his darling.

Probably.

"Sortz's got my back while I work." The girl was the only one he... sorta... maybe trusted. Mostly cus she owed him. Debts were finicky things like that. One minute.

"Alright, let's do this, we are gonna miss the drop-zone otherwise."

[member="Dash Kessler"] | [member="Saul Terrik"] | [member="Sortz"]​

​

[member="Alessandra Creed"] | [member="Hylocereus"] | [member="Ugohr Poof"] | [member="Mara Merrill-Valkner"] | [member="Rylan Kordel"] | [member="Gib"] | [member="Mishel Noren"]​

 

[Sortz]

Despite her size, Sortz was a quiet type and tended to keep to herself if she could manage it. More like a piece of architecture than a person to folks and that was better than some of the alternatives. So it wasn't that surprising when [member="Saul Terrik"] overlooked her. She'd said exactly three words when they'd met after all, and had been quiet since then. What was she anyway? Just someone following along in the wake of the more ostentatious [member="Daro Tarsi"] really. The hired muscle from the outside, no reason to give much more attention than that.

Fortunately, that's not what this actually was. Usually. Sometimes.

Okay, so working for Daro was weird and honestly Sortz never really knew when to expect which version of the man. The one that told her to get lost for an evening so he could, well, whatever he did alone in the apartment? Or the one that had called her his 'daughter' to [member="Zef Halo"]? Honestly, there wasn't a lot of middle ground. There was Daro and there was Tarsi. She'd stopped trying to figure out which one she was getting.

Blue gaze flicked over to [member="Dash Kessler"] when he mentioned Llanic. It was obvious the three knew what that meant without even a consideration. Not that it took a genius to figure out that whatever it was, it had gone south. Daro elaborated a moment later. Well, there were worse things. But then, Daro had been casual about Blackstar too. So it wasn't much to go on.

The Tro'zet nodded, but otherwise was still quiet. There were a million ways this could go wrong, but it wasn't confusing. She didn't have any useful to add in that moment. Whatever happened? Happened. She had a back up set of tools for Daro or herself if they were needed, a heavy blaster that had fit so well in her hands Zef had just told her to keep it, her fists and whatever mess was in her head.

She watched them for a minute as everyone got into position, before reaching down and slinging the extra coil of line over her shoulder. There were a couple of things she'd be schlepping around, just in case. Slicer. Muscle. Or, more commonly, pack horse. She was okay with that. Taking up a spot next to Daro in the tug, she tried to take up as little space as possible. Which was, admittedly, still a lot of space.

With Terrik at the controls, they lifted off, angling toward where they'd be intercepting that train car.

 

[Not Ordo]

Gib looked around at all the people talking, mingling, doing...things. He stuck out his lower lip and blew air up passed his large wide nose. His big orange eyes gazed around and he waved at folks that looked in his direction. He looked at his stuff, shrugged, and walked away to buy a burrito. He hoped the weird bug people had green sauce, the red just wasn't as good.

He couldn't help but notice the smells of the people, humans were always the worst smelling but the Geonosians weren't a whole lot better. He stopped acrossed the street and took some ORC bits from his pocket. The small currency rattled lightly in his big hand as he looked at the choices. He did not like nuna in his burritos it they never cut it right and it alway got stuck on his tusk. Embarrassing. He picked nerf steak and green, they had the green, and walked back to his stand chewing happily.


[member="Ugohr Poof"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"] [member="Alessandra Creed"] [member="Saul Terrik"] [member="Dash Kessler"] [member="Rylan Kordel"] [member="Sortz"] [member="Daro Tarsi"] [member="Mara Merrill-Valkner"] [member="Hylocereus"]

 

[Alessandra Creed]

​

Location: The Hub
Add'l Tags: [member="Hylocereus"] | [member="Ugohr Poof"] | [member="Mara Merrill-Valkner"] | [member="Gib"] | [member="Mishel Noren"] |
[member="Sortz"] | [member="Daro Tarsi"] | [member="Rylan Kordel"] |[member="Saul Terrik"] | [member="Dash Kessler"]


“See that you do.”

Again, her diction was formal but touched with just the right edge of sass. Alessandra smiled afterward, pleased, when it seemed that she would be getting her way. That was a familiar response, at least. On Brentaal IV she was very much so used to getting what she wanted. Why should the Confederacy be any different? He struggled around her name for a moment but eventually seemed to adjust. Oh, he was definitely new. Not new to combat, not from the way he wore his scars in the open, but either new or entirely uncomfortable in social settings. She wanted to call it cute but that felt rude, almost condescending, so she held her tongue. Instead, she merely continued on and let him find the rest of his voice in his own time.

A soft laugh bubbled up from deep in her chest when he began to defend and explain himself. She’d been right the first time. It was cute. “Knight Kordel, I desperately, desperately need you to understand the shocking state of catatonia I lapse into with only Magnaguards to speak to. Do you really think they have any sense of humor? At all?”

No. They did not. The Confederacy, more than anything else, loved their droids. As much as they loved their new tech, their oversized fleets and overly expensive fleets, and varying shades of flashy armor…Their one and only love? Droids. “You cannot hold an intelligent conversation with a glorified auto-chef. You, my new friend, are far more interesting.”

A sense of something familiar, and yet, entirely foreign had stopped her. Rylan was clearly concerned by her sudden stop but she did her best to brush it off. Ever since the Confederacy had taken on yet another SSD her days had been filled with nothing but telling the Vicelord no. No bowling alley, no coffee shops, no day spas. These things did not belong in a starship meant for war and death. One day, Alessandra would get Darth Metus to see reason, but until then, she would simply make things exceedingly difficult.

It was far more fun that way.

Alessandra smiled charmingly at the vendor that spun the sugar glass around a wooden stick. Over and over, until it looked like a fat, puffy, cotton ball. “Just one, thank you.”, she continued on, for most, entirely unrecognizable as someone who worked within an official capacity of the CIS. Her clothing would lead most to believe that she was well off, but, many wouldn’t think that a Minister would spend their time, wandering around the Hub with the rest of the everyday citizens. It gave an illusion that they were the same, when, in reality, they were not.

Alessandra liked to see the practical effects of their policies in action. It was a personal preference that most Ministers before her had not shared. What was the point of imposing rules and laws if they didn’t do any good? At most, after that, they were merely an inconvenience.

Rylan offered to pay for the sweet treat and the tan-skinned woman allowed it. If only, because it would have been discourteous to refuse. “And thank you. I made an executive decision and decided we can share. Have you ever had it before? I can never finish one of these alone though the temptation is fierce. I never was a quitter.”

Further down the line, they were selling ship parts and potted plants. Oddly enough she was more interested in the plants than the parts. Offering the cone up for Rylan to reach she tore off a piece of pink, future blood sugar issues, and happily popped it past cherry red lips. Her smile remained as she waited to see what Rylan thought. “Is there anything here you might want to see?”

The Minister of Commerce remained entirely ignorant of the presence of anyone that might have planned something nefarious. The bazaar was too large, too busy, and the Hub was filled with thousands of people. There was no way for her to know that something was amiss so she blissfully went on with her business. Which, truth be told, was little more than people watching and baking in the relentless Geonosis sun.

 

[Zef Halo]

"Llanic? What was karkin' wrong with Llanic, mate? We're here and we're all a little richer aren't we?" Saul demonstratively shrugged and highlighted karkin' with his tone. He left Dash's question answered by old man Tarsi. "Not my fault you spent your share on alien brothels, Dash." He waved a finger at him mockingly.

"Speaking of alien brothels - Sortz, was it?" The foul-mouthed criminal nodded at the large green alien. Heck, she scared him a little, he won't lie. "You got your shebs together for all of this? Forget it. Don't answer me, I don't want to know."

Saul flung himself in the driver's seat of the 'tugboat' and started the engines putting on his mask.

"Time to get rich, ya fethin' crooks." The engine roared to life and off they embarked towards the lighrail system just as the train was passing by.

He thrust the tugboat downwards towards the train and began an adjustment course on top of the designated container wagon. The humid wind was slamming the windshield and Saul felt how karkin awful the weather on Geonosis really was. Sweating like an akk dog on 'tooine, Saul focused on the job ahead. He could drive, alright, but he karkin' hated it or at least looked like he hated it.

Whatever.

...the feth?

"The karkin' train's accelerating!!" The driver shouted through the cacophony of noise from the train's engines. "It shouldn't be accelerating!!" He answered preemptively the question all might've had. "At this point, our time to get this done's drastically decreased so fethin' get to it!"

Central station really was coming up ahead much quicker than it was supposed to. The info they got was the train's supposed to stop at central station but apparently not as there was no sign of deceleration.

These karkers better get on rapeling down.

​

[member="Daro Tarsi"] | [member="Dash Kessler"] | [member="Sortz"]​

[member="Alessandra Creed"] | [member="Hylocereus"] | [member="Ugohr Poof"] | [member="Mara Merrill-Valkner"] | [member="Rylan Kordel"] | [member="Gib"] | [member="Mishel Noren"]​

 

[Dash Kessler]

LOCATION: The Hub, Golbah City
ITINERARY: Rob a Train, Crackwise, Hopefully Escape
FELLOW MISCREANTS: [member="Sortz"], [member="Daro Tarsi"], [member="Saul Terrik"]
OTHER FOLK OTHER PLACES: [member="Gib"], [member="Hylocereus"], [member="Alessandra Creed"], [member="Rylan Kordel"], [member="Mara Merrill-Valkner"], [member="Mishel Noren"], [member="Ugohr Poof"]

“Don’t mind, Saul.” Dash remarked as he passed the Tro’zet on his way into the back of the tug, flashing her one of his more roguish, lopsided grins for good measure. If Daro vouched for her, that was good enough for him. Guy might’ve been an old coot, but you didn’t get to a ripe old age in this line of work without knowing your business. Besides which, it never hurt to have someone of her imposing stature along for the ride. She reminded him of Mount Manarai on Coruscant in that respect. Huge, beautiful, but no doubt dangerous to climb. Tsch, maybe later. “Comes from a really old school Corellian family out of Teta, don’t you Saul? The classical kind that don’t like to marry outside of their own. Man’s so inbred we used to call him Sandwich back in the G double A.”

Well, that and the man always seemed to be in the middle of everything. The fact he was also full of Tapani grade baloney just helped seal the deal.

“Daro, what goods you packing?” He called once the vehicle was in the air and surfing through the heated skies, raising his voice to be heard over the whistling air wind and thrum of the meaty thrum of the engines. Tuned to perfection, no doubt. Saul might’ve talked poodoo, but man could make an engine sing like no one else. “You let me know if you and Manarai ever need a little upgrade, yeah? Maybe field something from this century? I’ll hook you up. Give you special rates.”

Namely a hefty discount for her, offset by a significant rise from him. He was running a business after all, not a charity.

Of course, that was assuming they didn’t turn into a fine smear in the immediate future. Something that was sounding more and more like a possibility with each passing second as they swooped down into position. Barely having time to register what was what before the guide ropes were dropping over the side, the masks were on and they were rappelling down the side on to a karking train.

He gritted his teeth as his magboots impacted loudly on the roof of the train, staggering slightly and almost falling over the edge before he caught himself, ankles and knees protesting in the effort it took to bring himself back from that messy brink. It was a good thing his mask covered his face, made it easier to hide the pale shade of green his features had just adopted. Kark, the money better be good.

“<<We’re in.>>” The Corellian commed once the other two had made it down safely. One shaky hand reaching for his blaster, the other waving up at the tug. If the rush of wind had been loud onboard the ride in, it was truly deafening on top of the train. “<<Don’t go too far now, Sandwich. We ain't meaning to stick around long.>>”

With that, he began to move towards his portion of the assignment, crouch shuffling his way up the roof towards the carriage's magnetic coupler. Trusting the other two to handle their side of things.

 

[La'Ca Cavataio]

Everything was a yawn fest for the skipping witch. There was not a single thing that should out to her. Even if all the objects around her were talking to her. That was her mind's way of handling her seer abilities, and it could not be such lame events present and future. Different items telling her about a circle je… Oh, they were saying heist and not another set of words. How silly was La’Ca to think differently. Still the news had no hold to keep her there to care enough.

One thing she did take big note of. While moving through the Hub, she had noticed a woman, Alessandra, and her likeness to Mira. The likeness caused a thought and that made her want to leave to go back to Mira. Off to the spaceport to seduce a pilot and head back to Dathomir became her focus.

(La’Ca out… yay two posts)

 

[Arage Bao]

That exchange between [member="Sortz"] and [member="Saul Terrik"] was followed by Daro with a squint.

Expression darkening just a bit.

[member="Dash Kessler"]'s interjection was good, gave him a few more points in Daro's corner, but it didn't do much for his mood. Had anyone cared to look they'd have noticed the slight dent in the metal railing where Daro had been standing, where his prosthetic arm had squeezed just a bit too hard. They got into the contraption Saul called a vehicle and Daro sat down next to him in the front-seat.

It started up.

Daro leaned in and there was a wash of alcohol-laced breath past Saul's ear. Hushed tone, not soft enough to be missed, but enough for the others to pretend like they hadn't heard. It was all about pretensions in the underworld. "See, I know you enjoy your little weekly brothel trips. Your night, your favorite girl, favorite room." Prosthetic arm settled on the metal frame edging Saul's seat.

It scratched and whined a bit as anger drove to pressure.

"Know this- disrespect one of mine again and I will make sure your next brothel trip will be solely for the scenery." Daro leaned back and the cyborg arm had left a scratched dent in the railing to make his point clear. There were reasons why Daro Tarsi had grown to be old in this business. Part of it was his skills, yes. Other part? He was a bastard and wasn't afraid to hit his point home with actions. He played the amicable guy when it suited him, but there was more to it than that.

Sortz knew that. She had become one of his messages, breaking kneecaps when Daro thought that was the right way to go.

But in a way he cared about her, reminded him of.... other times. Better times. Of a young girl with spirit and potential. Wasn't gonna coddle her just because of some memories, yet couldn't help but feel for her regardless sometimes.

Silence.

Then Daro took another swig from his flask (where the feth did it come from every time?) and he snorted. "I have seen ya goods, Kessler, shiny casing, packs a punch, but put too much stress on it an' its a gonner."

The repelling down past the line onto the moving train was hell for him though. By the time his boots were on the roof and magnetized there was sweat trickling down his temples, he was seeing double a bit and his breath had gone ragged. A moment passed as the wind blew past him, making his coat dance in the air, waiting for the familiar sound of Sortz' bulk to crash down next to him.

His hand was on her arm right after that.

"Ain't feeling well, you fix the alarms make sure we don't get karked, I will watch your back." Not his favorite thing- but in all honesty... Daro trusted Sortz with this.

If anyone could do it it was her.

 

[Sortz]

Honestly, Sortz prefered being ignored to whatever the hell Terrik was doing now.

"Uhhhh," was the only reply he gave her time to manage before he was off again, leaving the Tro'zet just blinking in his wake.

Humans were weird.

Vaguely uncomfortable and not really having much she could do about it (besides picking Terrik up by his head and dropping him over the side which sounded way more appealing than she cared to admit), she reached up, scratching absently at the small horns mostly hidden by her hair, rubbed the back of her neck and did her best to ignore it.

Eyes cast over to Dash, and she returned the smile (perhaps with a touch more relief than might be expected).

"Kinda used to it," she said, her voice low and rough. When he continued though, it actually got a self conscious laugh out of her, a snort of a chuckle that seemed to surprise her as much as anyone else.

"Sounds like the kind you'd send back with the waiter," she replied, totally deadpan. It was hard to tell if she was making a joke or being entirely literal. A beat. "Meat's gone limp and the bread's all soggy."

Manarai? "Oh, no, my name's Sortz," she said, figuring he'd just missed it. Despite Daro's response, she smiled slightly at him, lips tugging around her tusks. "I'd like to see what you make sometime, Dash."

Once the wind picked up, the Tro'zet shut up again. Oh she could certainly make herself heard, she just didn't like to shout. The ambient noise was enough that she entirely missed the exchange between Daro and Terrik- which was probably for the better.

"Uh, Daro, do we need to recalibrate your hand again?" She leaned forward to ask a moment later, a little worried when she noticed the damage to the metal frame.

They'd have to worry about that later, however. She promised herself she'd keep an eye on it. Last thing they needed was for it to go on the fritz in the middle of a job happening on the back of a speeding train... one going way faster than they had been anticipating to boot. Pulling down her own mask (which got caught on the tusks, poking a pair of holes in the fabric and jutting through slightly), and headed over the side. The rappelling ropes seemed way too thin for her comfort, but they held just fine. With Daro and Dash going over one side and her the other, it only rocked the tug a little bit.

Her feet thumped hard on the train car roof. Too big of a profile against the wind, she immediately dropped down to one knee to cut some of the sheer and give her a more stable position to cover Daro as he-

Sortz blinked behind the goggles.

-"O-okay,"- she said, a little unsure. Not because she didn't think she could do it, but because it took a moment to switch from one mode to the other. She'd been perfectly prepared to keep over watch on Daro, but she hadn't been ready to do this end of the job. Extracting the small pad (even the largest Daro had found was too small for her hands, it looked more like a toy than a tool), she set to work, delicately jacking into the control panel.

-"Something's wrong"- her voice muttered over the comms. -"There's more encryption on this than there should be. Like whoa more."-

A beat.

-"Uh, guys, I don't think this car is full of what we think it's full of......"-

[member="Daro Tarsi"] [member="Saul Terrik"] [member="Dash Kessler"]

 

[Zef Halo]

Saul rolled his eyes at Dash's comment.

That karker.

Just wouldn't let this stupid chit go. He almost wanted to toss him over the roof's railings before they left but the money was too good, the baroness was too vengeful and well there was some comradeship between those that served together in an army.

The wind blew hard against the tugboat when the screeching sound of metal being squeezed almost startled him. A reeking stench poured in his nose as the cold voice of Daro Tarsi introduced him to dread. Saul would've usually retorted, instead he sneered but knew well not to say another word. Not intimidated to the point of freezing exactly but certainly not that brave to drag this on and get his ass tossed off board by the cyborg. This wouldn't be the last verbal tussle between the two that was for sure.

Motherkarkin' old ass.

The criminal pushed back his irritated thoughts and focused on the job ahead as the rest slid down the ropes on the wagon leaving Saul to carefully ascend the tugboat without losing too much velocity. A flash in his eyes took his attention for a brief moment to a space liner leaving the planet heading to the skies where-

Huh?

Saul squinted his eyes to make out the clouds setting the background behind the space liner. It took him a moment before he realized what the clouds had oddly formed into -

Bye, Felicia.

The pilot shook his head smirking. That's foothin' odd, innit.

Saul turned his attention back to piloting just a few seconds before he almost crashed into a building parallel to the lightrail system he was flying above. Close call.

-"Uh, guys, I don't think this car is full of what we think it's full of......"-

"Well what is i' full of, love? Tell us, yeah." He muttered through the comms, trying to ease the rising worry in his chest.

[member="Daro Tarsi"] [member="Sortz"] [member="Dash Kessler"]​

 

[Rylan Kordel]

Location: The Hub
Objective: Escorting the minister and enjoying her company
With: Minister [member='Alessandra Creed']

A small chuckle escaped him at her comments about how poor a conversationalist that droids could be, and he nodded in agreement, they could be, to say it simply, boring. "I could argue about me being interesting, unless you happen to know more about me than my files suggest." he winked playfully, which would be more than enough to give away that she was more correct than she possibly knew, and time would tell if she got to know his story.

Scanning the faces of the crowd again as they got to the Sugar Glass vendor, Rylan paid up when the man handed over the candy to Alessandra, and he wouldn't admit it, but he was glad she let him pay for it, it was a small gesture for sure, but he was trying to be as gentleman like as possible with her.

"Oh executive decision for us to share one huh?" he grinned at her, with a quick wink "It's been a long time, but I did have it as a kid with my younger siblings." a slightly sad smile passed over his face, then he shook his head and tore off a small piece with fingers and placed it in his mouth, allowing it to melt. A new smile crossed his features, one of bliss at the taste of the sugary treat. As the pair continued down the path of little tents and shops, he looked over at many different things, parts, plants, little gadgets he could possibly utilize in new ways, when she asked about what he may want to see, he grinned, popping more of the treat in his mouth, then put a finger up as if saying 'one moment', and he turned to find a dark purple flower, dropping down a couple of credits for it, then took the flower, and stepped in closer to Alessandra,and prepared to put it in her hair, "Do you mind?"

 

[Fabula Caromed]

Where: Some grungy-looking sandy market in the middle of nowhere, near the spaceport. In other words, "home."
What: Window shopping
Who: Hey [member="Scherezade deWinter"], you wanted to hang out, right?

Months after she'd pasted half of a Mandalorian cruiser from the inside-out with a gravity hammer, Fabula was still getting newsletters from whatever logistical skeleton served as the equivalent of an HOA for the Outer Rim. Normally, she paid them absolutely no mind whatsoever. It was largely politics or parties, and neither of those things held any interest to her. Plus, as good as she was at mending her own tattered flesh, getting caught in a cruiser crashing to Utapau's surface wasn't exactly something she could just walk off. A couple of months of recuperation and she was ready to move again, and this...well. "CIS" was a name she hadn't heard in a couple of years. She was at least interested. The parts of Fabula who weren't entirely sure whether or not she'd punched one of Verd's cronies once upon a time were the same parts of her still trying to parse through 200+ years of memory backlog.

Better than even odds that she had, though. She'd punched most things, once upon a time.

Geonosis was hot and miserable smelled far less like bug people than Fabula had expected. It was less hot than Tatooine, though, and the dune sea hadn't been unconscionable enough to make her even mildly uncomfortable. Fabula wandered the filthy streets with a mildly detached smile on her face, with absolutely no agenda whatsoever. Geonosis had been one of those place she was interested in, but had no real impetus to go to. It was too civilized for her tastes and too wild to be "exotic" for someone whose primary pastime was punching the untamed frontier with the flat of her head. But now, people she was vaguely affiliated with were here, and that meant that there was a pretty good chance something was going to blow up. Something always blew up when the Coalition was involved.

Even so, Fabula found herself lingering near the spaceport. The smell of ozone and engine fuel was too familiar to leave for long. Al 2.0 had made a point of reminding her that the Pilgrim would be infinitely safer with her in close proximity, should the worst happen and something inevitably detonate, creating a city-wide violent uprising and sparking an international event. Al could be pretty bleak at times, but Fabula couldn't deny that his concerns weren't completely unsupported.

For now, though? This was a pretty impressive little dockyard-slash-commercial-district they had going on. People in fewer flavors than she was used to but more than was probably common closer to the core ran about their business in hundreds of different ways. The food almost smelled good enough to overpower the scent of bulk freighters. The knickknacks and shinies the locals had managed to round up were just barely curious enough to pass as Rim material. A couple of natives had a sort of huge bovine pack animal that looked like it might be fun to wrestle.

She'd find something to do, surely.

 

[Dash Kessler]

[SIZE=9pt]LOCATION: [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]The Hub, Golbah City[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]ITINERARY:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] Rob a Train[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]FELLOW MISCREANTS:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] [member="Sortz"], [member="Daro Tarsi"], [member="Saul Terrik"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]The journey across the top of the carriage took Dash a little longer than he had initially anticipated. But then, having strangely never found himself in a position to time himself stomping his way across the top of a moving train, in a set of rickety magboots no less, it wasn’t as if he had a reference of time to really compare it to. All he knew as, it definitely seemed quicker and damn sight easier in the holos, that was for sure.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“<<[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]You mean it’s not full of the hopes, dreams and rainbows we were promised?[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]>>” He responded wryly as he finally came to the end of his journey, crouching down to grab the edge of the train while deactivating his boots at the same time in order to vault down into the gap between carriages. Relying on his natural athleticism to keep himself from being simply swept away as he landed ungracefully. While it was Sortz first job with Saul, and Daro’s second, Dash on the other hand was a little more familiar with the Tetan’s penchant for cutting corners and following credits rather than common sense when it came to selecting their employers. “<<[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]You did vet this job, rig--[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]>>”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]The words abruptly died in his throat as he stood, instantly finding himself staring at the slackjawed - or at least, he assumed it was slackjawed - appearance of a rather confused looking Genosian drone through the window of the door. A drone unmistakably in uniform. The kind less associated with your run of the mill train conductor, more with your local branch of law enforcement.. Ah, [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]kriff[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]. Say what you want about Saul, and Dash often had, each job was always an adventure into the unknown.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]This was a karking prisoner transport. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“<<[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Uh, so, sarcasm aside, I’m gonna go with Manarai on this one.[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]>>” With little else to do, and with the drone still trying to comprehend where this strange human had suddenly appeared from, Dash preoccupied himself with waving awkwardly with one hand while reaching for his arc light blaster with the other. Thumbing the charge all the way up to the maximum. Jamming it into the lock and handle of the door. “<<[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Also, I think we’ve been made.[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]>>”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]There was a fzzt of energy as he squeezed the trigger, frying the lock and startling the drone back to reality. Between the noise of the train itself, and the durasteel that separated them, it was impossible to hear exactly what the drone started screaming, but he didn’t need to understand genosian to realise that it likely wasn’t a warm welcome. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“<<[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Yup, definitely been made.[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]>>”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]He squeezed the trigger again for good measure.[/SIZE]

 

[Rook Lokar]

Ever since the Confederacy of Independent Systems thrust itself at the hell-hole that was Geonosis, things had become increasingly difficult to do around here- especially if you operated on the wrong side of the law, something that Rook made a profession on. There weren't a lot of morals that went into the smuggling trade, but even he had some semblance of a code. Although, when he got double-crossed entering Geonosis, well, he was on the job and when a Smuggler was on a job? You all know it wasn't the legal kind of substances that hid in the floor panels.

Now? Some sort of metallic and magnetic device locked itself around his wrists, ankles, and neck. He wasn't able to find a seat, forced to stand instead for the lengthy train ride that he hoped was to come to an end. When he finally reached the end of the line Rook hadn't come to much of a plan yet, probably try and stage a riot and free himself somehow. There wasn't a chance in the Galaxy he was getting into that pit with a sharp stick and chains locked around him. Wouldn't last long either considering the future competition.

Yet, little did he know, it may just be his lucky day.

[member="Dash Kessler"] - [member="Daro Tarsi"] - [member="Sortz"] - [member="Saul Terrik"]